Public Domain Image by Daderot, August 2005
Beaux Arts buildings have many of these features:
- Massive and grandiose
- Constructed with stone
- Balustrades
- Balconies
- Columns
- Cornices
- Pilasters
- Triangular pediments
- Lavish decorations: swags, medallions, flowers, and shields
- Grand stairway
- Large arches
- Symmetrical façade
Some famous Beaux Arts buildings:
- Vanderbilt Marble House, Rhode Island
- Grand Central Terminal, New York
- New York Public Library
- Palace of Fine Arts, San Francisco
- Carnegie Hall
- The Waldorf, New York City
About the Beaux Arts Style
The Beaux Arts (French for "fine art") style originated in the École des Beaux Arts in Paris. Many American architects studied at this legendary architectural school, where they learned about the aesthetic principles of classical design and brought them to the United States.
Also known as Beaux Arts Classicism, Academic Classicism, or Classical Revival, Beaux Arts is a late and eclectic form of Neoclassicism. It combines classical architecture from ancient Greece and Rome with Renaissance ideas. Beaux Arts is characterized by order, symmetry, formal design, grandiosity, and elaborate ornamentation. In the United States, the Beaux Arts style led to planned neighborhoods with large, showy houses, wide boulevards, and vast parks. Due to the size and grandiosity of the buildings, the Beaux Arts style is most commonly used for public buildings like museums, railway stations, libraries, banks, courthouses, and government buildings.
The popularity of the Beaux Arts style waned in the 1920's, and within 25 years the buildings were considered ostentatious. Later in the 20th century, postmodernists rediscovered an appreciation of the Beaux Arts ideals.